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Top 25 11/11

My first Top 25 article of the year is here. If you missed it, I posted my preseason rankings on Twitter, so that's where I got the movement from in the rankings. Speaking of Twitter, be sure to follow me there (@ThreePointRange). I recently hit 500 followers, which was super cool, and I have been posting some post game reactions there, so if you want my thoughts on individual games, players, and teams, that's a great place to find them. Finally, let me know what you think of my rankings? Did I rank your favorite team too low? Tell me why they should be higher! I'm always happy to discuss my rankings and why I have certain teams where I do, so be sure to hit me up there. Anyways, here are my Top 25 rankings, plus some thoughts on my process and some games to watch in the upcoming week.

 Top 25
1. Kentucky (N/A)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 69-62 vs Michigan State (in MSG), W 91-49 vs Eastern Kentucky
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Evansville
2. Duke (+4)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 68-66 vs Kansas (in MSG), W 89-55 vs Colorado State
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Central Arkansas, 11/15 vs Georgia State
3. Louisville (+3)
Record: 2-0, 1-0
Results: W 87-74 at Miami, W 78-55 vs Youngstown State
Upcoming Games: 11/13 vs Indiana State, 11/17 vs North Carolina Central
4. North Carolina (+3)
Record: 2-0, 1-0
Results: W 76-65 vs Notre Dame, W 78-62 at UNC Wilmington
Upcoming Games: 11/15 vs Gardner-Webb
5. Kansas (-3)
Record: 1-1
Results: L 68-66 vs Duke (in MSG), W 74-62 vs UNC Greensboro
Upcoming Games: 11/15 vs Monmouth
6. Michigan State (-3)
Record: 1-1
Results: L 69-62 vs Kentucky (in MSG), W 100-47 vs Binghampton
Upcoming Games: 11/14 at Seton Hall
7. Ohio State (+1)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 64-56 vs Cincinnati, W 76-56 vs UMass Lowell
Upcoming Games: 11/13 vs Villanova
8. Seton Hall (+1)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 105-71 vs Wagner, W 74-57 vs Stony Brook
Upcoming Games: 11/14 vs Michigan State, 11/17 at Saint Louis
9. Oregon (+2)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 71-57 vs Fresno State, W 106-75 vs Boise State
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Memphis (in Portland), 11/17 vs UT Arlington
10. Arizona (+6)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 91-52 vs Northern Arizona, W 90-69 vs Illinois
Upcoming Games: 11/14 vs San Jose State, 11/17 vs New Mexico State
11. Florida (-7)
Record: 1-1
Results: W 74-59 vs North Florida, L 63-51 vs Florida State
Upcoming Games: 11/14 vs Towson, 11/17 at UConn
12. Texas Tech (-2)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 85-60 vs Eastern Illinois, W 79-44 vs Bethune Cookman
Upcoming Games: 11/13 vs Houston Baptist
13. Memphis (+2)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 97-64 vs South Carolina State, W 92-46 vs UIC
Upcoming Games: 11/12 at Oregon (in Portland), 11/16 vs Alcorn State
14. Maryland (-2)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 95-71 vs Holy Cross, W 73-55 vs Rhode Island
Upcoming Games: 11/16 vs Oakland
15. Washington (+9)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 67-64 vs Baylor (in Alaska)
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Mount Saint Mary's, 11/16 vs Tennessee (in Ontario)
16. Gonzaga (+1)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 95-64 vs Alabama State, W 110-60 vs Arkansas Pine Bluff
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs North Dakota, 11/15 at Texas A&M
17. Virginia (+2)
Record: 2-0, 1-0
Results: W 48-34 at Syracuse, W 65-34 vs James Madison
Upcoming Games: 11/16 vs Columbia
18. Florida State (-4)
Record: 1-1, 0-1
Results: L 63-61 at Pittsburgh, W 63-51 vs Florida
Upcoming Games: 11/15 vs Western Carolina
19. Baylor (-6)
Record: 1-1
Results: W 105-61 vs Central Arkansas, L 67-64 vs Washington(in Alaska)
Upcoming Games: 11/15 vs Texas State
20. Saint Mary's (+2)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 65-63 (OT) vs Wisconsin (in Sioux Falls)
Upcoming Games: 11/11 vs Winthrop, 11/14 vs Long Beach State, 11/17 vs Cal Poly
21. Villanova (-3)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 97-54 vs Army
Upcoming Games: 11/13 at Ohio State, 11/16 vs Ohio
22. Texas (+8)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 69-45 vs Northern Colorado, W 70-66 vs Purdue
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Cal Baptist, 11/15 vs Prairie View A&M
23. VCU (-3)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 72-58 vs Saint Francis (PA), W 59-56 vs North Texas
Upcoming Games: 11/13 vs LSU, 11/17 vs Jacksonville State
24. Xavier (-1)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 76-57 vs Jacksonville, W 81-63 vs Siena
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Missouri, 11/15 vs Missouri State
25. Georgia (-4)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 91-72 vs Western Carolina
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs The Citadel, 11/15 vs Delaware State
Next 5
26. Houston (-1)
Record: 0-0
Results: N/A
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Alabama State, 11/15 vs BYU
27. Utah State (-1)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 81-73 vs Montana State, W 89-34 vs Weber State
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Denver, 11/15 vs North Carolina A&T
28. Mississippi (N/A)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 71-43 vs Arkansas State
Upcoming Games: 11/12 vs Norfolk State, 11/15 vs Western Michigan
29. Auburn (NR)
Record: 2-0
Results: W 83-74 vs Georgia Southern, W 76-66 vs Davidson (in Annapolis)
Upcoming Games: 11/12 at South Alabama, 11/15 vs Cal State Northridge
30. LSU (NR)
Record: 1-0
Results: W 88-79 vs Bowling Green
Upcoming Games: 11/13 at VCU, 11/16 vs Nicholls State
Dropped Out: Purdue (27), Davidson (29)
Also Considered: Alabama, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Colorado, Creighton, Davidson, Dayton, New Mexico State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State,  Providence, Purdue, San Diego State, Vermont
Thoughts
- The opening week is always weird for ranking teams. It's hard to balance blowouts of bad teams and losses to good teams. For instance, how far should Kansas and Michigan State drop for losing in the Champions Classic? Sure, they have losses on their record now, but does that automatically make them worse than, say, Seton Hall, who beat two mid-majors? I'm trying not to overreact to the small sample and use the eye test as well as preseason projections to keep the rankings reasonable for now, but I can't just ignore the losses. I think I've done a fairly good job of balancing results, how the team is playing, and my original rankings.

- The team that jumped the most this week was Washington, moving up nine spots after beating Baylor. As a whole, the Pac-12 moved up quite a lot. Seeing Washington, Oregon, and Arizona play against fairly good competition made me reconsider my stance on them. I think the performance of the Pac-12 last year made me undervalue those teams a little bit, despite all signs pointing to them being quite good this year. Their performances this week made me move each team up. Am I being a little aggressive? Maybe. But I really think the Pac-12 as a whole will be better and these teams are going to be some of the best in the nation this year.

- Unfortunately, with all of the movement, some teams have the unfortunate consequence of moving down despite doing nothing wrong. Villanova is a prime example here. They dropped 3 spots despite doing walloping Army and my opinion on them not changing at all. However, teams like Washington and Saint Mary's impressed me enough to warrant moving up past the Wildcats, causing them to slip. As soon as they get a nice win on their resume, they'll move right back up.

- Florida State had an interesting week. They lost to a not great Pitt team before beating Florida on the road. It presented me with a tough challenge for ranking them, but I think they deserved to be dropped. Part of that had to do with me being significantly lower on the Gators, who dropped the most of any team this week, and the loss to a team that then lost to Nicholls State, plus I think I was too ambitious with my initially ranking of Florida State. The Noles took a slight drop in the rankings despite their big win over their rivals.

- One last thing, there tends to be a lot more volatility at the bottom of the rankings. A loss there more than a loss to a team in the mid-teens. Don't be surprised to see teams going from ranked 20th to out of the Next 5 because of one loss, especially early in the year. There are a lot of teams that I think are pretty close, so I may lean more towards the results for the rankings there.
What To Watch
Monday
DePaul at Iowa
Winthrop at #20 Saint Mary's
Tuesday
Creighton at Michigan
Missouri at #24 Xavier
#29 Auburn at South Alabama
#13 Memphis at #9 Oregon (in Portland)
Wednesday
#30 LSU at #23 VCU
#21 Villanova at #7 Ohio State
Purdue at Marquette
Thursday
#6 Michigan State at #8 Seton Hall
Friday
#16 Gonzaga at Texas A&M
BYU at #26 Houston
Saturday
#15 Washington at Tennessee (in Ontario)
Sunday
New Mexico State at #10 Arizona
#11 Florida at UConn
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